


Something Like A Death Wish

by ranereins (shadowintime)



Category: In Time (2011)
Genre: Community: angst_bingo, Gen, Near Death Experience, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-09
Updated: 2012-03-09
Packaged: 2017-11-01 16:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/359111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowintime/pseuds/ranereins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will has a dangerous addiction that could get him killed. He knows it, but not even a promise to Sylvia can keep him from playing with his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Like A Death Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'Self-Harm' square of my [Angst Bingo card](http://ranereins.livejournal.com/204030.html). Unbeta'd

Will made his way past tables full of people towards the back of the club. The look on their faces, the realization that seem to dawn in their eyes, it clearly said that they knew exactly who he was. They weren’t about to call the TimeKeepers on him though, they were in an illegal underground time club, same as him.

Some seemed afraid, others gave him a smile, but there were a few that glared at him. Those who glared, they were the ones that he was most interested in. The glares meant that they didn’t like him… more than that, the glares meant that they had a lot of time to lose.

They weren’t of much concern to Will at that time, however. He had come to see the people that hid away in the back, the ones that were guarded and cocky and felt that they had too much time to ever lose.

“Whoa,” one of the guards by the door to the back said, holding a hand out to stop him. “You on the list?”

“Yeah.”

“Name?”

Will smirked. They knew exactly who he was; he could tell by the distain in their eyes. He glanced down at their time… over a century, each of them. They were tipped well by the people they protected; Will figured they liked to keep it that way. “Will Salas.”

The guard with the list stared at him for a moment before checking for his name. He found Will’s name fairly quickly, but hesitated before finally nodding to the other guard.

“Have a good evening, Mister Salas,” the first guard told him as opened the door and stepped out of the way.

“Thank you,” Will replied as he walked past.

He walked down the hall, passing several gaming rooms as he went. There was only one game he was interested in tonight and that room lay at the end of the hall.

When he entered the room, he found several fights already in progress with people waiting in line for their chance at the winners. As Will took a seat with the other hopefuls, a man at the table nearest to him timed out and fell to the floor. Two men standing along the wall grabbed the timed-out man by the arms and dragged him away while another man, this one well dressed, motioned for the next in line to step up for his chance.

Will looked up at the boards showing how much time was on the line for each of the fights and his heart began to race. Over three centuries on one, eight on another, but the clock that made his heart skip a beat contained over four thousand years and counting.

The waiting was killing him; the fights seemed to go at a snail’s pace. All he could do was watch the biggest clock, his heart beating in his ears as the time accrued.

“Excuse me,” the well dressed man said, a hint of annoyance in his tone for being ignored. “You’re next.”

Will stood and rubbed his palms on and pants legs as he walked over to his opponent and sat down across from him. The man said nothing as he offered his arm to Will. Will took his arm, getting a good grip and waited for the man to make the first move.

His opponent stared at him for a few moments; whether he was waiting for Will to make the first move or if it was somehow part of his strategy was unclear, but he finally turned Will’s arm and began emptying his time.

Will gave him some resistance, but nowhere near the amount that he could have. He simply stared at his clock, watching as the time ran out. His heartbeat slowed and steadied even as the sense of euphoria that came with the rush of adrenaline surged through him. His entire body seemed to tingle as his clock counted down his last minutes.

His opponent narrowed his eyes at him, his expression reflecting his confusion. “You got a death wish kid?” he whispered.

Will grinned. “Something like that.” The seconds counted down; _seven… six… five… four… three…_ Will turned his wrist and the clock paused at two seconds. He stared at his opponent for a moment, eyes sparkling with excitement as his life hung in the balance, before turning his wrist with more force and reversing the clock.

His opponent seemed to be in shock as his clock counted down unchecked. By the time that he came back to his senses, it was too late to put up a proper fight and he timed out. The onlookers and staff watched in shock as the man who had been one of the best contenders of the night fell to the ground, dead.

Will paid them no mind as he looked at his clock and admired the twelve-hundred years he had gained. “Who’s next he asked?”

\-----------

At the end of the night, when Will left the club, he had gained just over ten thousand years. He stared at the clock with a grin so big that it felt as though his jaw might break. It wasn’t about the time though, it was about how close to death he had come and how many times he had come back from the brink.

Halfway home, Will’s grin faded as reality set back in. He looked at his time once more and it suddenly felt like a filthy thing that he needed to wash off of his arm. He could hear Sylvia yelling at him the first time he’d come home after fighting.

_“Why Will? Why? Why would you do that?!”_

Will spotted a man across the street and ran over to him. The man tried to back away, afraid that he was about to be robbed of his time, but Will forced him to let him have his arm and began to drain some of the time away.

_“Are you insane?! This isn’t sport Will; this isn’t some sort of twisted high! This is your life!”_

He left the man with several centuries and ran towards a woman he spotted two blocks away.

_“You might as well cut your wrists or drive the car off of a cliff! It’s the same gamble!”_

“Get away from me, my time ain’t worth your effort!” the woman yelled.

“I’m not taking time, I’m giving it,” Will reassured her.

“Why?” she asked in disbelief.

“Because I did a very bad thing,” he told her before running off.

_“Are you not happy? Is that what this is? You have to risk your life to feel alive?”_

It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy. He really didn’t know why he did it. He just felt like something was missing. It had started after the TimeKeeper Leon had timed out in front of their eyes. Leon had died doing something that he believed in and that somehow put what he and Sylvia were doing into prospective. Will’s father had died fighting; he gave every spare second he had to others that needed it worse.

They gave away all of the time that they could as well, but it just didn’t seem like enough. At least not for Will. There was just that element of being seconds from death that Will needed. It made no sense and it couldn’t be rationalized, but he _needed_ it.

_“I can’t lose you Will! I just can’t! Promise me that you won’t fight anymore… promise!”_

_“I promise.”_

When Will was finally able to give away all of the time except what he had started with, he made his way home. Sylvia was already in bed, asleep and unaware that Will had once again gambled with his very life.

Will quietly snuck past the bed and into the bathroom. He turned on the light and stepped in front of the sink to wash his hands. He kept his eyes on his hands while he scrubbed at them as though it would help wash what he had done away. The mirror loomed in front of him, daring him to look at himself. 

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Will looked up at his reflection. He stared for a few moments, ashamed at what he saw. A liar, a man who had everything he could want and still wanted more… who wanted something that he’d always been afraid of, something that he shouldn’t.

Will tore his eyes away from his reflection, turned off the bathroom light and crawled into bed with Sylvia. He looked over at her; she was so peaceful, so unaware. It would kill her if she knew.

Will closed his eyes, making silent promises that he would never do it again.

 

_“Who am I kidding? Yes I will.”_


End file.
